TRAC Demo's

[Marky Dread]

.

[Bankrobber]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

[Wolter]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

Seriously. GEER won years ago. There's like 5 people that hate on it, and two of them are always wrong, and one if them's Canadian.

[muppet hi fi]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

I've personally never been part of that debate, as I love GEER.

Now if only Chris Thomas or Steve Lillywhite had produced it...never mind, I'll get my coat.

[Marky Dread]

.

[muppet hi fi]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

I've personally never been part of that debate, as I love GEER.

Now if only Chris Thomas or Steve Lillywhite had produced it...never mind, I'll get my coat.

Leave your coat where it's at as this is the correct answer.

Yeah, Thomas with Bill Price at Wessex, Air or Olympic - can you imagine? But even Lillywhite (not talking about his later sound with U2, Big Country, etc. necessarily), what he did with Thunders' 'So Alone' - that's a pretty damn mighty sound.

[Dr. Medulla]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

Seriously. GEER won years ago. There's like 5 people that hate on it, and two of them are always wrong, and one if them's Canadian.

And my dislike for GEER is mostly only within the Clash canon. I'd rather listen to that than, I dunno, Fleetwood Mac or Rod Stewart.

[TeddyB Not Logged In]

Re: Daisy. She's nothing like that. She's more a hippie. Also, Mick is in love with America. He likes baseball. And Chuck Berry. He's not what you seem to think he is. His getting tied up with the "chi chi" set was more recent, with Kate, who is friendly with Mick's now-ex Miranda. He's not a fan of that stuff. He goes down the pub and doesn't do much fancy stuff.

I'd rather listen to Rope 25 times in a row than most of the TRAC demos. The only problem with Rope is all the great singles like White Man that could have been on there instead of Guns on the Roof.

[IkarisOne]

Re: Daisy. She's nothing like that. She's more a hippie. Also, Mick is in love with America. He likes baseball. And Chuck Berry. He's not what you seem to think he is. His getting tied up with the "chi chi" set was more recent, with Kate, who is friendly with Mick's now-ex Miranda. He's not a fan of that stuff. He goes down the pub and doesn't do much fancy stuff.

Well, now, sure. But he was into a different thing back in the day. I'm sure if he had it all to do over again he would have gone down a different road. Those were weird times and pretty much everyone got sucked into the machine back then. I remember watching every one of my 1979 heroes fall into the pop morass, one after another.

[IkarisOne]

[

The thing that cracks me up is that you guys all sit around and compete to see who can hate on Give 'Em Enough Rope the most and then turn around and then get all offended if someone doesn't ooh and ahh over Mick's toenail clippings. I'll never figure it out...

Maybe about 10 years ago.

Seriously. GEER won years ago.

Ah, all those sacrifices paid off then. Chthulu keeps His word.

[IkarisOne]

I should add that in fact I really appreciate hearing these tracks because it shows where Mick's head was at - as opposed to BAD, which shows Mick having come to his senses- and how far apart he and Joe were. It makes the split seem all the more inevitable. I don't think there was any chance they could have made a good record. And as much as I love Pete's playing, it's so obvious to me listening to those Spring 83 shows that the moment had passed and they were just going through the motions, just as Mick said. It was probably awful for all of them. The 80s would have destroyed them, just as it did everyone else. As it stands they went out with their biggest seller and a big successful tour. My wife and I were discussing how many bands stuck around too long and made you forget why you liked them in the first place, the Talking Heads being the prime example. I remember how extraneous Naked felt- it was such a meaningless coda at the time. I think the Clash might have ended up like Simple Minds- doing irreparable damage to their reputation that no amount of back to basics moves could ever undo. It's not a question of how terrible a Thompson Twins flavored Clash album would have been because there's no way it ever would have gotten made.

[TeddyB Not Logged In]

Well, we'll never know if they would have worked something out because they sacked Mick. Of course to me and most of the few who listened, the Clash did undermine their reputation by releasing Cut the Crap. Or at least Joe undermined his reputation. I wouldn't even say they held onto their balls, because there was something too cute about the whole Clash II adventure. Mick knew enough to get himself flanked by two Rastas instead of two spiky haired wannabes. But yeah. 1983 was a hard year for a credible rock band to negotiate their way through. Worked for Springsteen, at least commercially.

[IkarisOne]

Well, we'll never know if they would have worked something out because they sacked Mick. Of course to me and most of the few who listened, the Clash did undermine their reputation by releasing Cut the Crap. Or at least Joe undermined his reputation. I wouldn't even say they held onto their balls, because there was something too cute about the whole Clash II adventure. Mick knew enough to get himself flanked by two Rastas instead of two spiky haired wannabes. But yeah. 1983 was a hard year for a credible rock band to negotiate their way through. Worked for Springsteen, at least commercially.

The Clash brand was already shredded by CR but strangely enough CTC was so terrible that people were able to go back and say, "sure, this Combat Rock shit is like listening to drunken eunuchs warble Bucks Fizz songs at a karaoke bar, but compared to CTC it's Blonde on Blonde. And it's got "Should I Stay" on it as the token "rock" song!" But it was Sony's marketing work that really saved the day.

Mick was inarguably working up a big, final "fuck off and die" to 70s vintage Clash fans either way, whether on a would-never-happen sixth Clash album or this stuff with Topsy McRockHater and the Blow Monkey reject on TRAC. But as weird as it sounds I think Mick's obsession with Frankie Goes to Hollywood pulled him out of this weird Blancmange-Thompson Twins-China Crisis mode he was clearly mired in. Trevor Horn really brought that big throbbing bass beat back to the fore after a lot of twinky synth popping in 1983 (see "Sweet Dreams"). It's definitely a more direct and harder beat on BAD than TRAC. Whether that inspired Tops to run off and form "Taking it to the Streets: The Ultimate Doobie Brothers Tribute" is a matter of conjecture.

[bazarboy75]

Ok guys so i finally made the podcast about the history of T.R.A.C.
IN FRENCH of course...

You can hear it here

[youtube][/youtube]

Tracklist of the show

The Clash : Clampdown live US Festival 1983 (CUT)
Junior Murvin : Police and Thieves (CUT)
General Public : Burning Bright (CUT)
Sigue sigue sputnik : Love missile F1-11 (CUT)
T.R.A.C : Apprentice
The Clash : Radio one (reprise) (CUT)
T.R.A.C : Euroshima
The Clash : Version city (CUT)
T.R.A.C : Astro turf
The Clash : Rebel waltz (CUT)
T.R.A.C : The Bottom line (CUT)
T.R.A.C : Nation (CUT)
T.R.A.C : DuCane Rd
Topper Headon : Ducane Rd
The Clash : Junkie Slip (CUT)
T.R.A.C : Ringmaster
Big Audio Dynamite : Sudden impact 12inch Mix

[oliver]

but the point was Mick wasn't thrilled that the TRAC tape emerged.

I realise I'm a couple of months behind here, but I am a little sad to read that. If I thought it would have caused any upset I would have kept the tape to myself for another 20odd years or until he was OK with it. I did read the follow up post where you said Mick would have got hold of an outtakes tape by his idol, so hopefully he knows I was coming from a good place when I wanted to share it.